Use the -s option of the ping command to determine if a remote host is running but nevertheless losing packets.
The ping -s hostname command continually sends packets to the specified host until you send an interrupt character or a time out occurs. The responses on your screen resemble the following:
& ping -s host1.domain8 PING host1.domain8 : 56 data bytes 64 bytes from host1.domain8.COM (172.16.83.64): icmp_seq=0. time=1.67 ms 64 bytes from host1.domain8.COM (172.16.83.64): icmp_seq=1. time=1.02 ms 64 bytes from host1.domain8.COM (172.16.83.64): icmp_seq=2. time=0.986 ms 64 bytes from host1.domain8.COM (172.16.83.64): icmp_seq=3. time=0.921 ms 64 bytes from host1.domain8.COM (172.16.83.64): icmp_seq=4. time=1.16 ms 64 bytes from host1.domain8.COM (172.16.83.64): icmp_seq=5. time=1.00 ms 64 bytes from host1.domain8.COM (172.16.83.64): icmp_seq=5. time=1.980 ms ^C ----host1.domain8 PING Statistics---- 7 packets transmitted, 7 packets received, 0% packet loss round-trip (ms) min/avg/max/stddev = 0.921/1.11/1.67/0.26 |
The packet-loss statistic indicates whether the host has dropped packets. If ping fails, check the status of the network that is reported by the ifconfig and netstat commands. Refer to Monitoring the Interface Configuration With the ifconfig Command and Monitoring Network Status With the netstat Command.